Independent Labour Party

The Independent Labor Party (ILP) was a socialist political party that existed in the United Kingdom from 1893 to 1975. The ILP was founded in the boomtown of Bradford, England, "the wool capital of the world", by Scottish socialist Keir Hardie, and the party was essentially a group of Marxist intellectuals who favored gradual reform instead of revolution. In 1906, ILP intellectuals and a federation of trade unions founded the UK Labor Party, and the ILP was a part of Labor from 1906 to 1932, when it voted to leave. In 1947, the ILP's three parliamentary representatives rejoined the Labor Party, and the ILP formally rejoined the Labor Party in 1975.